Germany Snubs New French President's Airbus 'summit'

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has turned down an invitation from the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss the future of Airbus and ownership of its parent company, EADS, at a "summit" in Toulouse next month, the Guardian has learned.

Senior industry sources said Ms Merkel saw no reason to attend such a meeting when the German state had no stake in Airbus. German interests are represented by a private sector company, DaimlerChrysler, which controls 22.5% of EADS voting stock.

The sources said: "No announcement has been made but Berlin feels it is inappropriate for the chancellor to attend what amounts to a shop-floor meeting in a French factory ... Why not Hamburg for that matter?"

Toulouse and Hamburg are the main Airbus manufacturing sites.

Mr Sarkozy, who issued the invitation soon after being elected last month, has indicated that France could eventually sell its 15% stake, which is managed on its behalf by media group Lagardère, which wants to dispose of its own 7.5% holding.

The French and Germans have long been at loggerheads over the future ownership structure of EADS. The dispute has delayed the appointment of a British representative to the board, first mooted at the Farnborough air show a year ago.

The Airbus chief executive and co-chief of EADS, Louis Gallois, told reporters that Margaret Hodge, industry minister, had repeated the British demand on Monday in Paris. He said: "For me this [a British seat] is not a problem but it's a question for the shareholders."

Mr Gallois and his co-chief, Tom Enders, have made plain they would prefer to see one chairman and one chief executive at EADS, with the group held entirely by free-float shareholders. But Mr Gallois said this was unlikely to happen for some time and said the current structure, with the Airbus CEO and chief financial officer in the same roles at EADS, had improved transparency and accountability.